Britain's biggest retailer Tesco has announced a deal with German automaker Volkswagen to develop 2,400 charging bays at 600 Tesco stores across the UK over the next three year. Francis Maguire reports on an industry in the midst of an electric revolution.

Limoux makes some of France’s best-value sparkling wine and this one is the classic local style rather than modelled on champagne. Alexandre Penet produces some excellent Penet-Chardonnet and Alexandre Penet champagnes, but also two very well-made sparkling wines: Solaine Extra Brut from Provence(€16 a bottle from alexandre.penet@lamaisonpenet.com) and Comte de Grimm Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut from Alsace(€18).

Sainsbury's and Asda, the British supermarket groups that want to combine their businesses, will challenge a refusal by the regulator probing their 7.3 billion pound ($9.2 billion) deal to give them longer to respond to the latest evidence. The move sent shares in Sainsbury's down as much as 5.5 percent as it pointed to growing tension between the two companies and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regulator. Sainsbury's Chief Executive Mike Coupe had already said last month that the firm would challenge in the courts any unfavourable final ruling by the CMA on the deal if it believed it was not backed up by published evidence.

Sainsbury's and Asda, the British supermarket groups that want to combine their businesses, will challenge a refusal by the regulator probing their 7.3 billion pound ($9.2 billion) deal to give them longer to respond to the latest evidence. The move sent shares in Sainsbury's down as much as 5.5 percent as it pointed to growing tension between the two companies and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regulator. Sainsbury's Chief Executive Mike Coupe had already said last month that the firm would challenge in the courts any unfavourable final ruling by the CMA on the deal if it believed it was not backed up by published evidence.

J Sainsbury and Asda have launched a legal challenge against the UK’s competition watchdog for failing to grant them enough time in the regulator’s in-depth probe into the pair’s proposed blockbuster merger. On Wednesday however, Sainsbury’s said that together with Asda it would lodge an application with the Competition Appeal Tribunal for a judicial review into the CMA’s second phase investigation, arguing for a review of the timetable and process given the “unprecedented scale and complexity of the case”. The current timetable has set a final deadline for deliberations of March 5 2019, with the full report to be published shortly afterwards.

LONDON (Reuters) - Asda, the British arm of Walmart (WMT.N) that has agreed a takeover by rival Sainsbury's (SBRY.L), was alone among the country's big four grocers in holding its market share in the latest ...

It comes just weeks after the High Court upheld a decision to dismiss an SFO prosecution against Barclays Bank over its Qatari fundraising in 2008, though four former senior executives are still due to stand trial in January. It casts an unfavourable light on UK authorities’ ability to hold big corporations to account compared to counterparts such as the US Department of Justice. In an embarrassment for the SFO, the judge threw out the Tesco case before it went to jurors for deliberation, deciding that in key areas “the prosecution case was so weak it should not be left for a jury’s consideration”.

PLC were acquitted in a 2014 fraud case related to the British retailer’s accounting practices. The U.K’s Serious Fraud Office opened an investigation in October 2014 after Tesco disclosed it had overstated its profit by more than £250 million. Bush and Scouler, ruling there was insufficient evidence for a jury to consider.

The request is being made by ministers because in the worst-case scenario, a no-deal Brexit would cut the capacity of the country’s main EU trading route from the French port of Calais to Dover in southeast England to just 13 percent of the current level due to additional border checks. Six government and industry officials with knowledge of the matter spoke to Bloomberg on condition of anonymity because the contingency plans aren’t public. Retail giants including Tesco Plc, J Sainsbury Plc, Walmart Inc.’s Asda and Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc -- the country’s four biggest grocery chains -- are now asking their main suppliers to ramp up their stock over concerns that half their shelves will be empty if there is a hard or no-deal Brexit, according to Joe Clarke, national officer for food, drink and tobacco at the Unite union.

The deal would see Altria take a 45 per cent stake in Cronos at C$16.25 per share, a 16 per cent premium to Thursday’s closing price, as well as taking warrants for a path to 55 per cent ownership. Altria’s partnership with Cronos could position both companies for better growth, giving Cronos financial and regulatory resources while giving Altria a new category in which to participate. With a rapidly evolving cannabis landscape in which long-term winners are not yet clear, Altria’s $1.8bn stake seems more reasonable to us than comparable recent deal activity that has exceeded twice that amount.

on fraud charges this week — after the UK retailer signed a deferred prosecution agreement and paid a penalty of £129m — is set to make that decision harder. As part of its armoury, the Serious Fraud Office can offer a DPA — a mechanism by which a business that has uncovered bribery, fraud or other forms of financial crime among its employees “self-reports” to the anti-fraud agency. White-collar crime lawyers say the latest acquittals may make companies more reluctant to strike a deal if the SFO is having difficulty securing convictions.

Dec 7 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. The Times Pharmacists will ...

The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) defended itself on Thursday against criticisms of "serious failings" after the collapse of a high-profile re-trial of former Tesco (TSCO.L) executives, insisting the prosecution had been in the public interest. New SFO director Lisa Osofsky has pledged to take on the "big guys" since she took the helm in August, a year after the elite investigator and prosecutor narrowly avoided a government push to roll it into a broader crime-fighting force. Judge John Royce ruled that Christopher Bush and John Scouler had "no case to answer" and that the prosecution was in parts too weak to put before a jury.

By James Davey LONDON (Reuters) - Two former directors of Tesco have been acquitted of fraud and false accounting at Britain's biggest retailer after a 2014 scandal, dealing a major blow to the UK Serious ...

Two former directors of Tesco have been acquitted of fraud and false accounting at Britain's biggest retailer after a 2014 scandal, dealing a major blow to the UK Serious Fraud Office. Christopher Bush, ...

In a vast warehouse complex 40 miles north of London, staff are wrestling with ways to cram in more goods after a surge in demand from companies building stockpiles ahead of Brexit. Efforts at Miniclipper Logistics to add new racks by narrowing the aisles are being duplicated across Britain as Brexit contingency plans spark a race for storage space. The company, which after adding a mezzanine floor and a temporary warehouse has 300,000 square feet of capacity, has already had to turn new business away.

In a vast warehouse complex 40 miles north of London, staff are wrestling with ways to cram in more goods after a surge in demand from companies building stockpiles ahead of Brexit. Efforts at Miniclipper Logistics to add new racks by narrowing the aisles are being duplicated across Britain as Brexit contingency plans spark a race for storage space. The company, which after adding a mezzanine floor and a temporary warehouse has 300,000 square feet of capacity, has already had to turn new business away.

British supermarket group Sainsbury's proposed takeover of rival Asda would not be cleared by the competition regulator without the need for "extensive remedies" if precedent is followed, according to market leader Tesco. The combination of No. 2 player Sainsbury's and No. 3 Asda, which is owned by Walmart, could overtake Tesco. In its submission to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is probing the deal, Tesco also questioned the economics of the 7.3 billion pounds ($9.4 billion) transaction, saying it provided few direct customer benefits.

The UK's EV charging infrastructure is getting a huge boost courtesy of a new partnership between the country's biggest supermarket chain, Tesco, and Volkswagen. Customers will be able to charge their electric cars using a standard 7kW fast charger for free, or pay to use the 50kW charger. The charging bays will be installed by the UK's largest independent public charging network operator, Pod Point.

Britain's biggest retailer Tesco and German car maker Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) have teamed up to develop an electric vehicle charging network in the UK, they said on Friday. Electric cars and other vehicles using alternative fuels account for about 6 percent of sales in Britain and are the fastest growing part of the market, rising 22 percent so far this year, helped by government schemes supporting them. The charging bays will be installed by Pod Point, which has installed over 2,500 publicly available charge bays at locations including retailers, service stations and transport hubs.

Britain's biggest retailer Tesco (TSCO.L) and German car maker Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) have teamed up to develop an electric vehicle charging network in the UK, they said on Friday. Electric cars and other vehicles using alternative fuels account for about 6 percent of sales in Britain and are the fastest growing part of the market, rising 22 percent so far this year, helped by government schemes supporting them. The charging bays will be installed by Pod Point, which has installed over 2,500 publicly available charge bays at locations including retailers, service stations and transport hubs.

Tesco and VW are to fund as many as 2,500 electric car charging bays. Volkswagen Group has said its VW brand should sell a million electric cars a year by 2025. German auto firm Volkswagen VOW3-DE and U.K. grocer Tesco TSCO-GB have teamed up to build the largest free electric car charging network in Britain.